Birth of Serpents
Track two on'' All Eternals Deck. This song also appears as a demo on ''All Survivors Pack as track 3. Lyrics Let the camera pull back 'til the fullness of the frame is clear and plain Peer into the screen until you see it all like a vision in a crystal ball Let it all fill with smoke Is this somebody's idea of a joke Let the fixer work until the silver's washed away and take the picture from the tray Look hard at what you see and then remember you and me and let the truth spring free Like a jack-in-the-box Like a hundred-thousand cuckoo clocks From the Oregon corners To the Iowa corn To the rooms with the heat lamps where the snakes get born Crawl through the tunnel and follow, follow the light northwest See that young man who dwells inside his body like an uninvited guest See the tunnel twist Clutch your birthright in your fist Let the camera do its dirty work down there in the dark Sink low, rise high, and bring back some blurry pictures to remember all your darker moments by Permanent bruises on our knees Never forget what it felt like to live in rooms like these From the California coastline To the Iowa corn To the rooms with the heat lamps where the snakes get born Comments by John Darnielle About this Song *"I had this signal moment when I went to Portland at the end of touring The Life of the World to Come and I did what I always do, which is walk around where I used to live and look at things. I got my hair cut by this guy who lived in Portland when I lived in Portland, and I started asking him about people we used to know. He told me that somebody I knew was still working at the same place he'd worked, so I walked down there. But it turned out my hair dude's information wasn't current, and my guy had been hit by a car just a year before. It was weird. I had all these expectations about saying hello to my old friend who I haven't seen in 25 years. And, instead, he's dead. So I went to the hotel and slept. I woke up at 2 a.m. and wrote "Birth of Serpents", which is this marriage of images and the personal stuff underneath them. It's one of the most personal things I've ever written." -Mountain Goats' John Darnielle Talks New Album (Pitchfork) *"I wrote this song when I went to Portland, Oregon at the end of 2008. Well, for me, going to Portland is sorta like if you've ever, uh, you remember this old video game where you used to try and shoot ghosts? It was a very, very, very simple video game that you will still see if you go to, like, some town that nobody else goes to. You stop there for gas, and they have one bar, and that bar has a video game that was built in 1981, and it's running on the same chip, and then the 2-dimensional images have burned themselves into the screen, so no matter where you move your character, there's still this one that's just burning there at the center because it's sat there unplayed for so long, right? And the game is called, like, 'Ghost Hunt', or something like that, you know? And the idea is to shoot ghosts, which, I don't think I need to tell you, is a completely ridiculous idea, because you can't...—if they're ghosts, there's really nothing you can say to a ghost about a gun or a knife or anything, they would say 'Well I've been dead, possibly for a very long time, so shooting at me is a terrible idea.' But the ghosts in the machine can't talk, you just shoot them and I guess they pretend to be dead for the sake of, you know, everybody feeling good? So anyway, I went to Portland, there's a lot of ghosts in Portland for me. I don't try to shoot them, I try to make my peace when them—that's maybe even dumber than trying to shoot them. And yet I do it every time I go there. I woke up about an hour or two after sleep and found a title sitting in a notebook and I said 'That's for me at this moment.' Uh, Birth of Serpents." -- 2012-05-06 - The Metro - Sydney, Australia Things Referenced in this Song *The song references the states of Iowa, Oregon, and California—all states in which John Darnielle has lived. Live Shows this Song Was Played at *2011-02-23 - The Late Show with David Letterman - New York, NY *2011-03-24 - The National - Richmond, VA *2011-03-25 - 9:30 Club - Washington, D.C. *2011-03-26 - Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center - York, PA *2011-03-28 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY *2011-03-29 - KEXP Session - Seattle, WA *2011-03-29 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY *2011-04-01 - Paradise Rock Club - Boston, MA *2011-04-03 - The Opera House - Toronto, Ontario *2011-04-05 - The Vic Theatre - Chicago, IL *2011-04-06 - Mercy Lounge - Nashville, TN *2011-04-08 - Cat's Cradle - Chapel Hill, NC *2011-04-10 - The Grey Eagle - Asheville, NC *2011-04-11 - Wexner Center - Columbus, OH *2011-04-15 - Theater of the Living Arts - Philadelphia, PA *2011-05-22 - Whelan's - Dublin, Ireland *2011-05-24 - Coalition - Brighton, England *2011-05-25 - Koko - London, England *2011-05-30 - The Cluny - Newcastle, England *2011-06-14 - The Varsity Theater - Minneapolis, MN *2011-06-16 - The Showbox - Seattle, WA *2011-06-17 - The Biltmore Cabaret - Vancouver, British Columbia *2011-06-18 - Aladdin Theater - Portland, OR *2011-06-20 - The Fillmore - San Francisco, CA *2011-06-23 - El Rey Theater - Los Angeles, CA *2011-06-24 - Soho Restaurant and Music Club - Santa Barbara, CA *2011-06-28 - WFUV Session - New York, NY *2011-07-27 - Artpark - Lewiston, NY *2011-07-28 - Meadowbrook Pavilion - Gilford, NH *2011-07-29 - The Shelburne Museum - Shelburne, VT *2011-07-31 - Papermill Island - Baldwinsville, NY *2011-08-02 - House of Blues - Cleveland, OH *2011-08-03 - Meijer Gardens - Grand Rapids, MI *2011-08-04 - Egyptian Room - Indianapolis, IN *2011-08-05 - Lollapalooza - Grand Park - Chicago, IL *2012-01-25 - The Crowbar - Tampa, FL *2012-01-31 - Visulite Theatre - Charlotte, NC *2012-02-02 - The Grey Eagle - Asheville, NC *2012-02-04 - The Haw River Ballroom - Saxapahaw, NC *2012-05-01 - The Bakery - Perth, Australia *2012-05-06 - The Metro - Sydney, Australia *2012-05-09 - The Toff in Town - Melbourne, Australia *2012-05-10 - The Corner Hotel - Melbourne, Australia *2012-10-16 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY *2012-10-19 - The Haunt - Ithaca, NY *2012-10-23 - Pabst Theatre - Milwaukee, WI *2017-06-04 - Crystal Ballroom - Portland, OR *2017-11-07 - 9:30 Club - Washington, D.C. *2017-11-10 - White Eagle Hall - Jersey City, NJ *2017-11-15 - Newport Music Hall - Columbus, OH *2019-11-14 - De Helling - Utrecht, The Netherlands *2019-11-17 - Brudenell Social Club - Leeds, England *2019-11-20 - Button Factory - Dublin, Ireland *2019-11-24 - Lisboa ao Vivo - Lisbon, Portugal Videos of this Song *2011-02-23 - The Late Show with David Letterman - New York, NY *2011-04-10 - The Grey Eagle - Asheville, NC *2011-05-24 - Coalition - Brighton, England *2011-06-17 - The Biltmore Cabaret - Vancouver, British Columbia *2011-06-23 - El Rey Theater - Los Angeles, CA Category:All Eternals Deck songs Category:All Survivors Pack songs Category:Video